VILLA were today facing up to the reality that Gareth Barry wants to quit the club after the player finally told Martin O'Neill he wants to go to Liverpool.

The 27-year-old skipper has phoned the Irishman to communicate his desire to move to Anfield after a decade of service at Villa Park.

Barry's agent Alex Black confirmed: "Gareth has spoken to Martin since he returned from England's game in Trinidad and told him how he feels. At this stage of his career Gareth wants to be playing Champions League football and believes this is his chance to do it."

The news will have come as little shock to O'Neill, who has privately known for some weeks Barry has wanted to go.

Negotiations will now gather pace to come to an agreement over a transfer fee and O'Neill will demand most, if not all, of the cash Liverpool are set to receive from Juventus for Xabi Alonso, who should soon complete a £16million transfer.

O'Neill has played hard-ball with Liverpool from the moment he believed Reds boss Rafa Benitez betrayed his trust by leaking to the media a private phone call from the Spaniard.

That involved a "mish-mash" player-swap for Barry - which it now transpires involved cash plus John Arne Riise, Steve Finnan and Jermaine Pennant - which Liverpool valued at £10million and O'Neill dismissed out of hand.

O'Neill has so far refused any such player-plus-cash offers for his captain because Liverpool's valuation of those players, and particularly his chief target Peter Crouch, has been too high.

But it now seems only a matter of time before the inevitable happens and the player will be hoping a compromise deal can soon be thrashed out at around £15m.

Villa have long since made moves to replace Barry with Chelsea's Steve Sidwell well placed to arrive at around £4.5million despite speculation of interest from Manchester City.

Villa are also keen on Tottenham's Tom Huddlestone.

Meanwhile, O'Neill has revealed the emergence of new French striking superstar Karim Benzema enabled him to capture John Carew from Lyon last January.

Carew arrived at Villa in a straight swap for Milan Baros.

Speaking before the France v Romania Euro 2008 match yesterday, O'Neill - who is working as a pundit for the BBC - said: "Gerard Houllier told me 18 months ago he could let Carew out because he had someone emerging through of a similar nature.

"He did not say it was Benzema at the time, but soon afterwards he was brought into the team so it was obviously him."

Benzema, still only 20, has become a big star for Lyon and was voted the best player in France last season.